Baby Peanut: 16 Weeks

4 months - yeah! It finally seems as though time will start moving a little faster. If you ask Babycenter, there's a kid the size of an avocado swimming around in my stomach. That seems so big to me. Two short months ago, the kid was a pomegranate seed. Now it's the main ingredient in an appetizer. Keep growing, little one!

Babycenter also tells me that I'm supposed to gain about 12-14 pounds in my second trimester. It means I am supposed to eat an additional 300 calories a day. That's not been too hard because I'm starving! Every day I'm as hungry as I would be had I run 20 miles. Eating every couple of hours is a must; otherwise, I get sick. I also have to chug a glass of milk before bed so that I don't wake up with a growling stomach. Nothing else will do it - not Gatorade, not water, and not juice. It has to be milk.

I have a confession to make: every once in a while, I read message boards for the women who are due in December like me.  I say confession because I'm probably snarking on most of the posts there. Some of them are so over the top: people do seem to think they are the first to have ever given birth.  I am amazed by the demands people make of their spouses - no drinking in front of them, no eating deli meat in their presence, buy me a present - basically, treat me like a queen because I'm carrying your child.  

I'm sorry, but I don't buy that. J has definitely been extra sweet to me, but I don't think he has to wait hand and foot on me simply because of my status. I don't expect him to cut back on working out because I have, nor will I deprive him of ordering a beer at dinner on a Friday night. He's not the one pregnant.

Anyway,one thing I have learned from the boards is that there seems to be a very big debate right now about pregnant women drinking.  There was a post on this message board, and this article about a Danish study that found no consequence to babies born from mothers who consumed moderate amounts of alcohol during their pregnancy.  Man, if you want to start a huge argument, bring up this topic.  The comments are very, very interesting.  I'm not planning to drink anything at all, but that's my preference. While I'm not going to lambaste a woman in her third trimester who is enjoying a tiny glass of wine, I also don't think I'd ever go to a restaurant visibly pregnant  and order alcohol.  Do you think the waiter was right to refuse to serve her?

This Week In A Nutshell:

Workouts - five!  Ran four times for a total of 13 miles, plus Dance Trance.

Craving - cupcakes

Currently reading - Baby Bargains.  Still.  It's a huge book.

Gender - don't know, but I think it's a boy.

Fun - my co-worker offered to give me her old B.O.B. stroller so that when the baby is big enough, we can start running together!

PS - I'll upload pictures later.  Forgot to take them this morning!